Date: 07.08.2018 Ground: Revisit Match: 5 (62) Venue: The Venue – Park Hall Teams: St. Martins V Cammell Laird Competition: Northwest Counties League Division 1 South Admission: Free Complimentary Entry Given By, St. Martins Final Score: 3-1 ( H/T 2-1 ) Referee: Mr. A Ovans Attendance: 56 Mileage to venue and return: 78 Miles Programme: £2 Team sheet: Free Village of St. Martins St. Martins is a village and Cival Parish situated on the Shropshire/Wales border, north of Oswestry and east of Chirk. The ancient parish was originally made up of townships, namely - Ifton, Wiggington, Bronygarth and Weston Rhyn. Each of these townships bordered Wales, the border being defined by the two rivers, The River Ceiriog and The River Dee. In 1870, both Weston Rhyn and Bronygarth formed into the new parish, Weston Rhyn. The Church in St. Martins is dedicated to, St. Martin of Tours. The afore mentioned Saint was born in either 316 or 336 and died in 397. St. Martin was the third Bishop of Tours in France. The parish was originally part of the Welsh Diocese of St. Asaph until 1922 when it was transferred to the English Diocese of Lichfield. For many centuries the area in and around the village of St. Martins was under the influence of nearby Chirk Castle and later, The Trevor family of Brynkinallt, Chirk. The parish of St. Martins can be found under, Ellesmere Rural however, an electoral ward does still exist in it’s own right and in it’s own name. The population of the ward is 4,333 people. St. Martins and the surrounding area’s is predominantly an agricultural area, but for centuries coal was mined in the area. The area included several collieries at the following locations: Ifton, Chirk Bank, Quinta, Trehowell, Moreton Hall and Preesgweene. These were geologically an extension of the Denbighshire coalfield. The last remaining colliery was at Ifton, which closed in 1968. Ifton colliery was also the largest colliery at the time in the whole of Shropshire and it’s workings actually crossed the border into Wales. This linked up the coal seams of the former collieries at Brynkinallt and Black Park. During the 19th Century a canal was constructed through the area known as St. Martin’s Moor. The famous engineer, Thomas Telford was the man in charge of the construction, the canal linked the industrial areas around Ruabon to the canal network. This is now part of the Llangollen canal. Also, during the 19th century, by the year 1848, the Chester to Ruabon railway line had been extended south to Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire. But only one train station was constructed in St. Martin’s parish, this was namely Preesgweene station later to be known as Weston Rhyn station. St. Martins has one school, the school is a 3-16 learning community, the school was formerly known as Rhyn Park School and Performing Arts College from 1958-2011. Edward Francis Williams, later to become Baron Francis Williams, was born in St. Martins on 10th March 1903. Baron Williams, known as Frank Williams was the former Editor of the Daily Herald and later to become the Governor of the BBC. The Baron died on 5th June 1970. St. Martins Football Club The club are embarking in their debut season at step 6 of the Non-League pyramid, a fantastic achievement for all involved at St. Martins. They are a well known and, well respected football club throughout Shropshire. Football in the village dates all the way back to 1897 when the village had a team representing them in various local competitions including The Oswestry and District League. During more recent times the club has competed in The West Midlands Regional League, they finished a respectable mid-table position in division one of The West Midlands League in the 2016/2017 season. Last season they finished in a fantastic 4th place and won the league cup by beating Wrens Nest 5-3 in the final. The 2017/2018 season also saw the club play in the illustrious national knockout cup competition, The FA Vase for the first time in their long and proud history. St. Martins currently play their home games at the home of The Welsh Premier League Champions, The New Saints FC, at the Park Hall Stadium in Oswestry, a picture of the stadium is shown below: Team Line Up’s at Statistics St. Martins Cammell Laird 1. George Austin 1. Michael Dixon 2. Matthew Walters 2. Ben Dutton-Kelly 3. Calum Bennett 3. Joshua Brabin 4. Jamie Hands 4. Adam Rooney 5. Jay Stoker 5. Adan Hughes 6. Joshua Parker ( c ) 6. Harry Caton ( Brady, 45) 7. Jordan Davies ( Mwamuka, 66) 7. Andrew Scarisbrick 8. David Easthope ( Hartshorn, 76) 8. Colm Lynch ( c ) 9. Karl Baily (Ash, 85) 9. Stephen Rothwell 10. Tawanda Melusi 10. Joshua Donnelly 11. Bredon Price 11. Jay Thomas ( Hackett, 80) 12. Dave Hartshorn 12. Joseph Foster 14. Thomas Ash 14. Shaun Brady 15. Callum Williams 15. Liam Hollett 16. Nyasha Mwamuka 16. Brett Adamson 17. Daniel Stevens 17. Thomas Hackett Manager: Dan Stevens Manager: Phil Burton Goal Log: Goal Log: Baily. 4, 52 Thomas. 28 Price. 21 Attempts: 12 Attempts: 9 On Target: 3 On Target: 3 Corners: 2 Corners: 2 Offsides: 6 Offsides: 4 Yellows: 1 Yellows: 0 Reds: 0 Reds: 0 Match Report: An entertaining game and more than watchable, St. Martins claimed their first ever win at step 6 by beating their visitors from Birkenhead 3-1. The home side’s number 10, Tawanda Melusi was instrumental in Saints victory with a superb individual performance, providing an assist for all three goals. It only took 4 minutes for the first Goal, Melusi providing a delightful chip over the Laird defence putting Baily clean through on goal. The number 9 finished confidently past Goalkeeper, Dixon with a low right footed shot. Baily nearly returned the favour on 16 minutes, his through ball found Melusi in space who could only shoot wide of the goal. The home side were the better side during the opening 20 or so minutes and their pressure told on 21 minutes. Melusi again the provider, some great individual skill and pass to match, Price providing a cool finish from twelve yards out. The away side started to come into the game and on 25 minutes, Rothwell produced a good shot from 20 yards which went just over the bar. Three minutes later they got back into the game with a good goal. A delightful cross field pass from their Right Full Back found Number 11, Thomas who provided a lovely finish past Austin with the outside of his left foot, putting the ball low into the far corner of the goal. Half-Time: 2-1 The second half started at a fast pace with some firm challenges from both sides. St. Martins grabbed their two-goal lead again on 53 minutes, Melusi with yet another assist, his pass finding Baily who provided a great finish for his second goal of the game. A minute later Baily almost scored his hat-trick goal shooting just wide of the post. The visitors were still in the game, on 65 minutes substitute Brady looped a header towards goal, but he was denied by a goal line clearance. The 70th minute saw another chance for Laird, Donnelly from the right found Rothwell in space in the Saints penalty area, unfortunately for him he could only shoot straight at Austin. The final 20 minutes were quite quiet in truth, St. Martins wouldn’t have minded this one bit and claimed their maiden victory not only for this season but at step 6 itself. Pictures From The Game Summary I enjoyed my evening in Oswestry, this was the second time that I had watched St. Martins play. The first time came during the 2016/2017 season. It was a pleasure to finally meet Andrew Joseph after talking to each other via social media for some time. Andrew is on the committee at St. Martins and kindly gave me a complimentary entry into the game. This was greatly appreciated, I thank Andrew again for his kind gesture. It was also nice to see Dave Tranter at the game. Dave from Telford is a fellow groundhopper who I have got to know the past couple of years through ground hopping and programme collecting. .